ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟛
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The firm hasn't changed too much. It's been a while since I've stepped foot inside.
The receptionist still sat behind the curved walnut desk near the entrance, the scent of expensive coffee and fresh printer paper still floated through the lobby.
Except the lobby wasn't nearly as loud as I remembered.
People weren't laughing, or talking. Heads lifted the second I walked through the revolving doors, then they immediately ducked back down, almost like they didn't want to see me.
A few people smiled awkwardly, some looked guilty.
Interesting.
Word had definitely gotten around.
My heels echoed against the polished floor. The sound carried farther than usual.
Blue and gold balloons caught my attention. A large banner stretched across one side of the lobby.
Smaller signs sat beside the coffee station, fresh flowers. Even catered pastries.
Seriously?
I slowed my pace.
They did all of this?
For her?
For stealing my position?
I stared at the banner a second longer. When I'd become one of the top litigation attorneys in Minnesota, nobody bought balloons, or ordered pastries.
Nobody hung banners from the ceiling.
Ted shook my hand, told me good work, and then handed me another case.
That was it.
Sadly, Dannah had called out sick today. Apparently she'd woken up with some awful stomach bug.
Lucky her. She didn't have to watch this circus.Which meant, I had to figure everything out myself.
I kept walking, one hallway after another.
Every office looked exactly how I'd left it. The copy room still had that annoying printer that jammed every Thursday for absolutely no reason.
Some things really never changed.
Then I reached my office. I stopped abruptly.
My name was completely gone.
The small brushed-metal plaque that had once read:
had disappeared.
In its place read:
The door stood slightly open. Against every instinct telling me to walk away, I looked inside.
There she was.
Georgia- sitting behind my desk.
My desk, my leather chair, my books. My office.
She wasn't even working. She was staring at three different folders spread across the desk with the same expression someone had when they failed a test.
She looked completely, utterly, lost.
The thing was I knew she'd be bad, I just didn't realize it'd happen this fast.
No idea what she was doing.
Exactly.
Her head lifted, and our eyes met. For one long second, neither of us spoke.
She gave me an aggressive smile, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.
I didn't care enough to find out. I simply turned around.
She wasn't the person I wanted answers from.
Ted was.
I walked away before she had the chance to call my name. I genuinely didn't know what would've come out of my mouth if she had. Probably something career-ending.
Ted's office sat at the end of the hallway. Josh, his assistant, looked up immediately.
"Dixie." he said, straightening his back.
"Hi Josh. I need to see Ted."
"He's with a client right now."
"I'll wait."
He gave me a sympathetic smile. "I don't think it'll be much longer."
I nodded once before taking the chair outside his office.
Five minutes had passed. The muffled voices behind the closed door rose and fell.
Ted laughed once. I rolled my eyes.
Must be nice.
Eventually the office door opened, and a middle-aged couple stepped out smiling.
Ted shook both their hands. "I'll have those documents sent over this afternoon."
"Thank you, Ted."
"My pleasure."
The clients walked away, and Ted finally looked up.
"Dixie." His expression didn't change.
"Come in." He gestured toward the chair.
I walked inside, closed the door, and sat down. Neither of us spoke immediately.
Ted leaned back comfortably in his chair.
"So. How was California?"
Was he being serious?
"I don't want to talk about California." I spoke.
"I figured. A little small talk doesn't hurt anybody."
"I want to talk about this." I gestured broadly toward the entire building.
Ted folded his hands together.
"Alright."
I stared at him, waiting, but nothing came out.
"So?" I asked.
"So?"
"That's it?"
"What would you like me to say?"
I laughed. I couldn't believe the nerve of this man.
"Ted, you gave my position away."
"I reassigned it."
"Without telling me?" I sat up in my chair.
"You were on vacation, I didn't want to interrupt your trip."
"Oh, spare me."
He remained completely calm, which made me even angrier.
"Do you know how embarrassing it was that I found out from Dannah?"
That finally earned a reaction.
His eyebrows lifted. "Dannah?"
"Yes!"
"Hm," He looked down briefly. "I'll need to have a conversation with her."
I blinked. "What did you just say?"
He looked back up.
"I specifically asked everyone to wait until you returned."
"Surprising that my own assistant had more respect for me than my own managing partner."
His eyes stayed on mine. "Dixie."
"No, Ted!" I leaned forward. "Not even a phone call?"
"You couldn't call me, you couldn't text me?"
"You couldn't say, 'Hey, Dixie, we're making a major decision about your career?'"
Ted let me finish.
"I wanted this conversation to happen in person," he said.
Like that would make it better.
"Well, I didn't. You humiliated me."
"I disagree."
"I walked into my office just to find out-"
"It isn't your office anymore." He cut me off.
The words landed like a slap.
I glared at him. "You really said that."
"It's the truth."
I swallowed hard. My throat suddenly felt tight.
"You let me walk through the stupid congratulations banners. You let me read social media."
"You even let me see Georgia sitting in my chair."
My voice finally broke. "Do you really think that this was the right way to handle it?"
Ted watched me carefully. "I think emotions are high, is it that time of the month?"
How rude could he have gotten over my trip? Or was he always like this and I turned a blind eye to it?
"Don't do that with me, Ted!" I yell.
"Dixie.."
I stand up. "So that's it? You replace me, and don't even ask how I feel?"
"I am asking."
"No, you're not."
Ted folded his hands together again, watching me stand by the door. "I'd sit back down if I were you."
"I'm fine standing."
"I wasn't asking, Dixie."
I stared at him for another second before sitting again harder than necessary. The chair rolled backward slightly.
He reached for a folder sitting near the corner of his desk and slid it toward himself.
"You know, I was hoping this conversation would've gone differently."
"Okay, well I wasn't."
"No," he admitted quietly. "I don't imagine you were."
Ted opened the folder.
"You've been with this firm almost seven years now." He skimmed a page.
"I know how long I've worked here. I don't need a history lesson." I narrow my eyes.
"It's not for your benefit." His eyes never left the paperwork.
"It's for mine."
I clenched my jaw as he finally looked up.
"You've been one of the highest-performing attorneys this firm's had."
"You've brought in clients," Another page turned. "And you've won cases people assumed we'd lose."
"You've worked nights, you've worked weekends."
"You've even missed holidays." he finished.
I was wondering when it would click to that thick skull of his.
"You've made this firm a great deal of money."
I folded my arms tighter. "So why am I sitting here?"
"Because all of those things can be true, and I can still make a decision you don't like." Ted closed the folder as he met my eyes.
Did he know how degrading he sounded?
"Can you hear yourself? You don't hear how insulting that sounds?"
"I imagine it does."
"Ted, I built half this department. Brick by brick."
"You helped build it." he corrected.
"No," I leaned forward. "I built it."
"You built your practice." He corrected me almost immediately.
"My name built your reputation, my work brought clients through those doors."
"My cases paid salaries, I trained associates."
"I covered Georgia's mistakes, I reviewed her motions- I even prepared her for depositions."
I gestured toward the hallway again. "But she gets my office?"
Ted watched me quietly. "I've noticed something about you."
"I don't particularly care what you've noticed." I narrowed my eyes.
He leaned back.
"You've started saying 'my' quite often. My office, my clients, my position."
He paused. "None of those things belong to you. They belong to this firm."
My throat tightened. That's what he really thought all this time?
I stared at him. "So people are disposable now?"
He shook his head once. "No, positions are."
I stayed silent.
"If I died tomorrow," I asked quietly, "how long before someone else sat in my office?"
Ted answered without hesitation. "A week."
I looked away. Hearing him actually say it hurt.
"A month if HR was slow," he said.
My chest tightened.
"I told myself the exact same thing when I took this job." He leaned forward slightly.
"I am replaceable, so are you. So is Georgia."
"So is every attorney in this building." he finished.
His fingers tapped lightly against the folder. "The difference is whether you're valuable enough to be worth fighting for."
"And what's that exactly is that supposed to mean?" I frowned.
"It means Georgia has your title." He slid another paper across the desk.
I looked down. It read Senior Litigation Director- Georgia Simmons.
I hated that.
"But she does not have your client list."
I froze. "What?"
"Your active litigation portfolio remains under review."
I looked back up. "Meaning?"
"It means Georgia has the office, the title, the administrative responsibilities. But she doesn't touch your clients...yet."
My heartbeat slowed before speeding up again.
"You're testing me."
Ted didn't answer.
"Ted, you know you are."
He finally spoke. "I want to see something."
"What must that be?"
"Whether Dixie West is as good as everyone says she is, or whether she only performs when she's comfortable."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.